sanabilis

Forms

sānābilis (neuter sānābile); third-declension two-termination adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin sānō (“to heal, cure”) + -bilis.^[2][1] The verb comes from sānus (“healthy”), which de Vaan traces to Proto-Italic *sāno-; he calls the further reconstruction Proto-Indo-European *seh₂-no- purely mechanical, and suggests either the root *seh₂- (“to tie”), giving a sense “in order”, or a root meaning “to satisfy”.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler records it first in Cicero,^[4] who uses it of the mind in the Tusculan Disputations: īrācundī sānābilēs, “irascible men can be cured”.^[5][6]

Semantic evolution

It is a rare but classical word for what can be healed:^[6] a wound in Ovid,^[6][5] pain in Celsus, who has the comparative,^[6][5] and, figuratively, faults of the mind and character in Cicero and Seneca,^[5][7] who says that whoever comes to a philosopher should go home either healthier or more curable.^[5] Ovid has nūllīs amor est sānābilis herbīs, “love cannot be cured by any herbs”.^[7] Pliny the Elder uses it actively of snakes whose bites can be cured, saying that asps are the least curable of all.^[2][7] In Augustine and Caelius Aurelianus it means wholesome or healing,^[5][7] and medieval writers used it both for curable and for conducive to health.^[8] It survives in Italian sanabile.^[7]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of curable faults of the mind.^[5][4]
• 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid uses it of wounds and of love.^[6][7][4]
• 14–37 AD – Celsus has the comparative sānābilior.^[6][4]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of snakes whose bites can be cured.^[2][4]
• 354–430 AD – Augustine uses it in the sense “healing”.^[5][4]
• Medieval Latin – Used for “conducive to health” in the penitential of Theodore.^[8]

Meanings

Adjective

1. That can be healed, curable, remediable, of the body or the mind.^[2][6][5]
2. Of a snake, inflicting wounds that can be cured.^[2]
3. (Late Latin) Wholesome, healing.^[5][7][8]

Word family

• īnsānābilis

Related words

• sānō
• sānus
• sānitās

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
4. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
6. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d e f g Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
8. ^ a b c Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press